Peacock chairs in four awesome styles — fan-back… balloon-back… cobra… and rarest-of-the-rare “double”!

After attending the 2016 Hukilau, I’m again OBSESSED with tiki. So much so that my living room is now all torn up, pending a step-by-step transformation to an all-out Suburban Savage Paradise. It will be EPIC. One thing it will include: A Peacock chair, already in my possession. But, while shopping around for other stuff, I discovered that these rattan beauties come in several very birds-of-a-feather styles. The rarest of them all, it seems: A double peacock chair! The proud owner sitting pretty in this beauty, above, is Vanessa Dingwell of Honeywood Vintage. The photo was taken by Bridget Pizzo for a story she did for Apartment Therapy featuring a tour of Vanessa’s home — “Vanessa’s Vintage Bohemian Hilltop Home.” Thanks, AT, for permission to show this photo — so rare to see this double peacock. I am green-plumed with ENVY!

Disclosure: Some of the ebay links in this story are affiliate links; but then I lost my mojo and they’re just plain links.

Dialing backward in krazeeness, above is a typical example of a basic, classic “fan-back Peacock chair.” It can also come with a matching ottoman – nice to have! Exact details of the weave may vary by design, but basically, this is the style you see a lot of. Mine is similar to this. This chair: For sale on ebay from clother_wares_by_amber

Now we get even more interesting: A Balloon-back Peacock chair, above. Want it? Run don’t walk to Balloon-back Peacock chair from holfeltzcoffee on ebay.

And here is another very rare bird: A Cobra-back Peacock chair. 64″ tall. It’s for sale on etsy from KimSpearsInteriors.

More about Peacock Chairs:

• Scholars believe the design hails dates to 1876 and was embraced by Victorians enchanted with Asian design. I’ll guess that with all those holes in weaves, the chair helped keep you cool from all directions in an era sans air conditioning.
• Sometimes I see them called King Chairs… and sometimes I see them called Princess Chairs… and sometimes I see them called Hospitality Lounge Seats. But I don’t see a real difference. Am I missing something?
• You see a lot of doll-sized peacock chairs. I have one of those, too, they are very easy to pick up at estate sales.
• You see dollhouse-sized peacock chairs.
• And sometimes you see kid-sized.
• Planters too!
• Domed settees are pretty rockin’ awesome, but I don’t think you should rightly call them peacock chairs.
• Twisted wrought iron hanging peacock chair: Coolio. HANGING!
• And, in aluminum (although I don’t think I’d really call these peacocks.) I surmise that once the form was established, the variations commenced.
• Fun: “The hardest-working chair in Hollywood” slide show.

Peacock chairs are HOT right now!

Golly, a bunch of these chairs and such sold before I could even get this post ready and published. Peacock chairs are HOT right now — they are being eagerly snapped up as “statement pieces” by designers and homeowners doing midcentury, bohemian, “jungalow”, desert modern, tiki (of course!) — and just plain eclectic interior designs.  P.S. I’ll declare: Don’t lacquer them! Let the wood shine through!

So… have I properly introduced you
to another thing you didn’t know about
but now absolutely neeeeeeeeeed?

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